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Robbie Fowler
Robert "Robbie" Bernard Fowler (born April 1975) also known as God is a retired English international footballer who played for Liverpool in two different spells. Fowler's two spells at Liverpool ranged from 1993-2001 after graduating from the academy, and the second time for the 2006-07 season. Fowler was one of Liverpool's most prolific goalscorers, netting 183 goals in 357 appearances in all completions. Liverpool Career Fowler's professional playing career began at Liverpool, progressing though the ranks at Liverpool's academy. He signed his first professional contract for the reds on 9 April 1992, his 17th birthday. His professional debut came on 22 September 1993 in the 3-1 league cup win against Fulham, in which he came off the bench to score. In the second leg a week later Flowler scored his first five goals for the club to make him the fourth ever Liverpool player to score five in a senior fixture. His first league goal came against Oldham Athletic on 16 October 1993 in the 2-1 win. All in all in this first 13 senior fixtures he scored 12 goals. In the 1994-95 season Fowler appearered in every one of Liverpool's 57 competitive matches. In that season he helped Liverpool win the 1995 League Cup Final against Bolton Wanderers. Also in this year in a game against Arsenal he scored the fastest ever Premier League hat trick, in just 4 minutes and 33 seconds, a record that was only beaten almost 21 years later. He also scored braces in four league matches that season. He won the PFA Young Player of the Year in 1995 as well as the next season making him one of three players to win the award in consecutive years. Fowler continued his goalscoring feats as he netted more than 30 goals from the 1994-95 season to the 1996-97 season. He is to this day the only player to have scored 30 plus goals in his first three full seasons in the Premier league scoring 98 goals with a total of 116 in 3 and a half years. This feat has yet to be beaten in La Liga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga as well. After several fantastic seasons with Liverpool Fowler's career was marred by a knee ligament injury that kept him out for most of the 1997-98 season. This injury kept him out of the 1998 World Cup as well, and led to the emergence of Michael Owen in the Liverpool first team. In the 2000-01 season Fowler helped Liverpool to win the FA Cup, the League Cup, and the UEFA Cup. He scored in the final in both the League Cup and the UEFA Cup. Because of then manager Gerard Houllier favouring the strike partnership of Michael Owen and Emile Heskey, Fowler's playing time began to suffer. Although he still made important appearances such as the 2001 UEFA Super Cup Final 3-2 win against Bayern Munich, he was still linked with a move away from Anfield. On 29 November 2001 Fowler made an £11,000,000 switch to Leeds United. Return to Liverpool After nearly 5 years away, with spells at Leeds and Manchester City, Fowler returned to Liverpool on 27 January 2006. Fowler's debut for his second spell at Anfield came on 1 February 2006 in the 1-1 tie against Birmingham. Fans hung signs at the match reading things such as "God – number eleven, welcome back to heaven". Fowler himself described his return as "a kid waking up on Christmas morning every day". After having three goals overruled for being offside, Fowler finally hit the back of the net on 15 March 2006 against Fulham, who he scored his first Liverpool goal against 13 years previous. His final appearance for Liverpool came against Charlton Athletic on 13 May 2007. He was given the captain's armband and was substituted two minutes before the final whistle where he was given a standing ovation. The crowd continued to chant his name for the remainder of the match even when he was off the field. He became a free agent on 1 July 2007. Honours Liverpool *FA Cup: 1 (2001) *League Cup: 2 (1995, 2001) *UEFA Cup: 1 (2001) *UEFA Super Cup: 1 (2001) Individual *PFA Young Player of the Year: 2 (1994-95, 1995-96) *PFA Team of the Year: 1 (1995-96) *EFA Fair Play Award: 1 (1997) *Premier League Player of the Month: 2 (December 1995, January 1996) *4th on Liverpool's 100 Players Who Shook The Kop (2006) *4th on Liverpool's 100 Players Who Shook The Kop (2013) Stats External links * * Fowler Fowler Fowler